Friday, October 28, 2016

The other night I watched another recent horror effort on
NetFlix and once again I struck gold! I went in knowing very little about the
story other than it surely had something to do with bugs and that is really all
you need to know about it as well. Well - I'll give you a bit more information
to whet your appetite.

Paul (Matt O'Leary) and Julia (Jessica Cook) are caterers
hired to provide food and drink for an afternoon outdoor event at a country
estate house. Affairs go well even though Paul's mild clumsiness threatens to
derail things at points. But once the sun goes down the guests are suddenly attacked by a swarm of very
aggressive insects that begin to do more than just sting the party-goers. Soon
the survivors are barricaded inside the mansion fighting off an ever increasing
threat of creepy, crawly monsters intent on killing everyone in sight.

STUNG is a great example of smart filmmaking at every level.
The script is clever in it's use of the standard monster film structure and is
well written enough to give us characters that are relatable without being
caricatures or stereotypes. The story is played straight but some solid humor
grows out of the personalities of the various individuals. First time feature
director Benni Diez handles the story very well getting great performances from
the younger cast and giving veteran Lance Henriksen one of the best small
roles he's had in a few years. The special effects are very well done with a
good combination of impressive, elaborate practical creatures and enhancing CGI
blended together incredibly well. This is a great little film that would do
well with an appreciative crowd or with a solo viewer looking for a good new
find. Highly recommended!

Thursday, October 27, 2016

I had checked out of Weird War Tales by the time the Creature Commandos came along in issue #93 and that is a sad fact. Now I'm using the recently published trade collection of their entire run to see what I missed.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Larry Underwood and I have known each other for nearly
thirty years. We spent our younger days getting into various types of trouble
together but don't get to hang out as much as we'd like anymore. So when Larry
suggested covering the blaxploitation horror film DR. BLACK MR. HYDE (1976) I
realized that it just might be a good time to reconnect over some great 1970's
cinema! Good call, Larry!

In recent years Mr. Underwood has become best known in Nashville as TV horror host Dr. Gangrene, a role he has played on and off for more than 16 years. As
cool as that might be I'm an even bigger fan of his ongoing YouTube series TheFantastic Films of Vincent Price in which he is covering every single film with
an appearance by the great actor. I highly recommend these fun examinations of
Price's career and look forward to the 1970's era. Cool stuff!

In this episode the two of us settle in to look at DR. BLACK
MR. HYDE and take the time to discuss the surprisingly small sub-genre of which
is a part. I really thought there were a LOT
more films of this type! Regardless, this film is a good representative example
of the genre with some great performances and a complicated main character at
it's center. The movie has a few variations on the classic Robert Louis Stevenson story playing with expectations about motivations in some neat ways. The film also goes out of it's way to comment on race and class in American society. Bernie
Casey and Rosalind Cash are the big name stars but it's Alabama born actor Ji-Tu Cumbuka as a police
officer investigating Hyde's crimes that steals every scene he is given. I would
have been happy to see a sequel film just about him and his cop partner.

If you have any comments or questions about the film or the
podcast the email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com. Let us know what your
favorite Blaxploitation Horror film is or your favorite Blaxpolitation film of
any sub-genre. Any other TRUCK TURNER fans out there? Thanks for downloading
and listening.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Monday, October 24, 2016

In this episode we do change the script a bit. There have
been some great new Blu-Ray releases of Paul Naschy films and we wanted to give
each of them a look to see what new information about the great man might be
gleaned from them. So, in the first segment of the show we discuss the CRIMSON
and COUNT DRACULA'S GREAT LOVE discs at length giving our opinions of these
fresh presentations. No one will be surprised that this leads to discussion of
the merits of the two films as well so be prepared. This is the Naschycast
after all.

Then we turn to the main topic of the evening - a look back
at HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1972). We originally podcasted about this
classic over six years ago in episode #2 and for an in depth scene-by-scene
dissection I will point everyone to that show. Here we speak more broadly about
the movie and the elements that we still find impressive and of value. To add
to the discussion this time we convinced fellow podcaster and all around good
guy Christopher Page to send in his thoughts on the film. He has only recently
begun to discover Naschy's work and his point of view informs how your longtime
co-hosts dig into the beating, bloody heart of HRFTT. With a little luck we'll
be incorporating other fan's thoughts on the classic films of Naschy in the
future.

We end this episode with what turns into a rant. The topic
is one that hadn't been on our minds until recently but once broached we felt
it should be talked about. Thanks to longtime listener Villa Wolf for sparking
this discussion and helping both co-hosts come clean about our past fanboy tactlessness.
Down with the gate-keepers!

If you would like to contact us the email address is
naschycast@gmail.com and if you listen to the show through iTunes please rate
and review us over there - It gets more eyes on the podcast. Also, if you'd
like to help us pay the hosting fees for the show there is a Donate button on
the right side of the blog page - every little bit you send our way puts more
lead in our pencils! Thanks for downloading and listening.